ISSF Shotgun World Cup: India's trap shooter Prithviraj Tondaiman wins bronze medal
Mar 12, 2023
Doha [Qatar], March 12 : Trap shooter Prithviraj Tondaiman won a bronze medal at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup 2023 in Doha, Qatar on Saturday. It was India's first medal at the ongoing ISSF World Cup being held at the Lusail Shooting Complex in the Qatari capital.
Prithviraj Tondaiman was on pace to go from the four-man medal match to the two-man gold medal round, but after missing three of his final five shots, he had to settle for bronze with 20/25 points.
Oguzhan Tuzun, a two-time world champion from Turkey, shot 33/35 to win gold, and Matthew John, a bronze medalist from Great Britain at Tokyo 2020, won silver with a score of 30/35. Naser Meqlad of Kuwait, a two-time Asian Games winner, was the first to face elimination in the medal match after missing two of his first fifteen attempts.
Earlier, Prithviraj Tondaiman topped his semi-final with a score of 22/25 to make the medal match. The Indian shooter scored 122 to finish sixth in the qualifying round.
At the ISSF Shotgun World Championship 2022 last year, Bhowneesh Mendiratta earned India a quota spot for the Paris 2024 Olympics. He finished qualifying in 27th position with a score of 120 after five rounds.
Of the 118 competitors, Zoravar Singh Sandhu (119) and Kynan Chenai (118) placed 38th and 49th, respectively.
In women's trap shooting, Shreyasi Singh, a 2018 Commonwealth Games champion in double trap, shot 118 to qualify for the semi-finals but failed to make the final four with a score of 21/25.
Kirti Gupta with a score of 110, ended up in 36th place among 62 competitors. Rajeshwari Kumari (107) came 46th while Preeti Rajak's 105 got her the 50th position.
Penny Smith of Australia beat Zuzana Stefecekova of Slovakia for the gold in the shoot-off while Alicia Gough of the USA, who shot 20/25 in the medal match, claimed bronze.
The ISSF Shotgun World Cup 2023 in Doha will conclude on Sunday.
